ABOUT BILL HUGHES

Bill Hughes was introduced to photography at the age of eight. when he learned to mix chemicals and develop film in his dad’s photography studio in Lumberton, North Carolina. His dad, prior to settling down and starting a family, had worked throughout the United States as a free lance photographer for the Associated Press. After high school graduation, he traveled as a musician in a US Navy Band throughout the Far East for several years. He then went to the University of Oregon and University of Michigan, studying music as an organ performance major. During the late 60s and 70s, he worked in a variety of jobs: a New York City taxi driver; a musician in off-off Broadway theater; a church organist and, in Almeria, Spain in 1969, as a movie extra for “spaghetti westerns.”

In the early 1990’s he began photographing the Latino community in the North End of Springfield, Massachusetts, creating the Pa’lante series while studying with the photographer Robert Aller at Holyoke Community College. His work was later strongly influenced by the late photographer, historian, critic and writer Ben Lifson, and later with Frank Ward, also a professor of photography at Holyoke Community College.

In recent years he has photographed on the streets of Berlin, Prague, Paris, the magical Greek island of Hydra, New York City and Venice Beach, California, where he visits yearly.

Hughes presently lives in the town of Montgomery, in Western Massachusetts with his wife and works in his private studio.

EXHIBITIONS

2020

This Is Us: Regional Portraiture Today, Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA

2017

Recent Work: Robert Aller and William Hughes, Meta Lacy Gallery, New Britain Art League, New Britain, CT
Eyes of Western Massachusetts, Colson Gallery, Eastworks, Easthampton, MA

2015

Faces of the North End, Springfield Museums, Springfield, MA

2014

Travels with Epicurus: Photographs from Hydra, Greece, Westfield Athenaeum, Westfield, MA

2014

The Art of Handmade & Alternative Photography, Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT

2013

Phontography Exhibition, Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT

2012

Valley Photographers, Valley Photo Center, Springfield, MA, Through the Iris, The Photographic Perspective, Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA

2011

Group Exhibition, Taber Gallery, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, MA

2010

Group Show, Media Arts Center, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, MA

2009

Valley Photographers, Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA000 From This Seasoned Table, portraits of elderly writers, Wisteriahurst Museum, Holyoke, MA

2000

Secrets of Aging, Boston Museum of Science, Boston, MA, traveling United States in 2002

1996

WestFest Arts Festival, 1st prize, Black & White Photography

1993

Pa’lante Series, solo exhibition, Brightwood Library, Springfield, MA, Zone Art Center Springfield, MA 2nd Prize (juried by Marni Sandweiss, Mead Art Museum)

Pa’lante Series, solo exhibition, Visual Art Center Gallery, Springfield College, Springfield, MA

1992

New England Photographers ’92, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA

1991

Pa’lante Series, solo exhibition, Forbes Library, Northampton, MA

AWARDS

2017

The Oven by Ilan Stavans, photographs by Bill Hughes, University of Massachusetts Press

2012

Dan Klein: Travels with Epicurus Explores The Best Path To A Fulfilled Old Age, New York Times

2007

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding philosophy through jokes, author photographs, Abrams Image, New York

2003

North Light and the Digital Darkroom, contributing writer, eDIGITALPHOTO,

2003

Black And White and Color Fine Art, Bill Hughes website review, Joe Farace, Shutterbug Magazine

1997

Many Families, Many Literacies, Heinemann Press, Portsmouth, NH

1995

Living Together, winner, Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO World Photo Contest

1994

Believe in Yourself, fifty portraits, Published by Read/Write/Now Adult Learning Center, Springfield